The present invention relates to the art of a connection between a crimp-style terminal (or crimp contact) and an electric cable, and more particularly to easily achieving stable contact resistance.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional connection between a crimp-style terminal and an electric cable. The crimp-style terminal 10 has an electric connective portion 11 at one end, and has at the other end a conductor clamping portion 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes a sheath clamping portion which serves to increase the connection strength when clamping the cable. The conductor clamping portion 12 has a U-shaped cross-section and a base 11a extending from the electric connective portion 11, and a pair of press-deformable arms 12a and 12a formed perpendicularly on the lateral edges of the base, respectively. A sheath is removed from a distal end of the cable 6, and the distal end of the cable 6 is placed on the clamping portions 12 and 13 with a conductor 6a exposed. Then, the conductor clamping portion 12 is subjected to forces from the upper and lower sides, as indicated in arrows, by clamping jigs 14 and 15, so that the conductor 6a is clamped by the conductor clamping portion 12. Also, the sheath clamping portion 13 is pressed by jigs (not shown) similar to the jigs 14 and 15, to hold the sheath 6b. The upper jig 14 has a pressing groove 14a having a triangular projection at its center, and the lower jig 15 has a shallow concave groove 15a. With such construction of the jigs 14 and 15, the conductor 6a and the conductor clamping portion 12 are brought into contact with each other over the entire length L and an electrical connection is made therebetween.
In the above prior art, however, if the dimensions C/W and C/H of the crimp-style terminal are not suitable as shown in FIG. 5, a gap 16 occurs between the conductor clamping portion 12 and the conductor 6a, which affects the reliability of the electrical connection. Therefore, it has been necessary to prepare many kinds of crimp-style terminals having various C/W and C/H dimensions, in accordance with various sizes of cables and kinds of terminals. Further, if the storage conditions are not proper, oxide films develop on the surfaces of the clamping portion and conductor, and dust or the like deposits on these surfaces. Thus, such foreign matter must be removed when in use. This results in additional cumbersome labor. For these reasons, conventionally, it has been necessary to strictly control the storage of many kinds of terminals, which has increased the cost and lowered productivity.